Marathon Oil Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 23, 1979

244 N.L.R.B. 572 (N.L.R.B. 1979)

D[)E(ISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Marathon Oil Company and Teamsters "GCeneral" Lo-
cal No. 200, affiliated with the International Broth-
erhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs Warehousemen
and Helpers of America, Petitioner. Case 30-UC-
145
August 23, 1979
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
By CIAIRMAN FANNING AND MEMBERS JENKINS
AND PEIFI.LO
On March 1, 1979, the Regional Director for Re-
gion 30 issued a decision in the above-entitled pro-
ceeding, finding, as requested by the Union, that the
utility man hired to work at the Granville terminal
was an accretion to the existing bargaining unit of
loaders at the Jones Island terminal. Thereafter, in
accordance with Section 102.67 of the National a-
bor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8,
as amended, the Employer filed a request for review
of the Regional Director's decision. The Petitioner
filed a statement in opposition to the request for re-
view.
By telegraphic order dated April 11, 1979, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board granted the request for
review. Thereafter. the Petitioner filed a brief' on re-
view.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record in this
case with respect to the issue under review and makes
the following findings:
The Employer has operated a terminal tbr the sale
of petroleum products at Jones Island, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, for the past 14 years. The Jones Island
terminal is manned by a supervisor and three loaders.
In November 1978 the Employer opened a new auto-
mated terminal in the Milwaukee area, approxi-
mately 23 miles from Jones Island, known as the
Granville terminal. Granville is manned by a supervi-
sor and one utility man who was newly hired for that
terminal.
The loaders assigned to the Jones Island Terminal
work in three overlapping shifts during the hours the
terminal is open for business, 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., to
assist in the manual loading of customers' fuel oil
trucks. The Granville terminal is open for business 24
hours per day 7 days a week, but the utility man there
works only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. since the terminal is
fully automated and customers-drivers can load their
trucks unassisted. The record reflects that the utility
man spends 60 percent of his time performing clerical
duties, while the loaders at Jones Island are primarily
engaged in directing or assisting in the process of'
manually loading oil trucks.
There has been no interchange or transfer of' em-
ployees between the Jones Island and Granville ter-
minals.'
Immediate supervision of terminal employees is
provided by the individual terminal managers. who
have authority to make assignments and to efi'ectivelv
recommend hiring, discipline, and promotion. Re-
sponsibility for day-to-day management of the termi-
nals is not centralized with the Employer's area man-
ager, who is responsible for 14 terminals in 4 States
and normally visits each one only 4 to 6 times a year.
There is no evidence to indicate that the operations
of Jones Island and Granville will be integrated.
Gasoline sales were transferred to Granville when
that terminal opened, but at the same time Jones Is-
land acquired No. I fuel oil sales which had previ-
ously been contracted out, so no work was taken
away from the Jones Island employees.
Upon the basis of the foregoing and the record as a
whole, especially the lack of employee interchange
and functional integration, the autonomy of the ter-
minal managers. the diverse duties of the employees,
and the geographic separation of the terminals. we
find that the Granville terminal utility man cannot be
accreted to the certified bargaining unit.
Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition be. and it
hereby is, dismissed.
m The record does not support the Regional D)lrector's finding that here has
been supervisory interchange between the terminals. In an) event.
supervisor) interchange is not an operative (iactor in resols ing accretin
questions See, eg.. Bran In/anrt WeIar (porlanl. 235 NlRB 13()5 (19781
244 NLRB No. 86
572